KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia arrested three suspected militants believed to have ties with a radical cleric in Indonesia who was charged this week with helping plan terrorist attacks, officials said Thursday.

The two Malaysians and an Indonesian were detained Wednesday for suspected involvement in activities that could jeopardize national security and for alleged links with foreign militants, national police chief Musa Hassan said in a statement.

Police identified the Malaysians as Sheikh Abdullah Sheikh Junaid, a 70-year-old businessman, and contractor Samsul Hamidi, 34, while the Indonesian was listed as Mustawan Ahbab, a 34-year-old marketing executive. They were arrested separately on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur and eastern Pahang state.

Authorities were holding them under the Internal Security Act, which allows for indefinite detention without trial.

An official familiar with the arrests said the men were believed to have worked with a terror cell in Indonesia's Aceh province that was allegedly set up by prominent radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir.

Bashir was arrested in the world's most populous Muslim nation this week for allegedly setting up the cell and militant training camp in Aceh that was plotting high-profile assassinations and bloody attacks on foreigners in Jakarta.

Those arrested in Malaysia were trying to help the cell expand in this country, the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make public statements on this.

Malaysian human rights groups that have long campaigned against the Internal Security Act criticized the arrests, saying the three detainees were at "risk of torture and other ill-treatment." Activists said the detainees should either be charged in court or released.

Over the past decade, Malaysian authorities have detained more than 100 Islamic militant suspects without trial. Most were released in stages after officials said they had renounced extremist beliefs.

These are very subtle messages that the BN government is sending out to an Islamophobic world, telling them that the ISA puts terrorists away.

What they neglect to mention, however, is that they also silence political opponents and activists in the same way.